Author's Note: I posted this originally on Plumber's Playground (as is my habit), but I've decided to make a few changes. A little bit more romanticism, however….well, you'll see.

"Gwen! You're all right!" Max hugged his granddaughter tightly. He stared over her shoulder at a bruised and battered Ben, who was using a young man Max had never seen before as support.

"Gwen, who is this?""Umm..." in his haste to shake hands with Max, Kevin let go of Ben, causing the younger boy to fall to the ground.

"Oww....you may not be so ugly anymore, but you're still a jerk," Ben said, rubbing his rear as he rose up.

"I don't understand...you couldn't be..." Max said in wonder.

"Why couldn't he be?" Verdona snapped. "Honestly, Max, after being with me for so long I thought you'd be more open to what life holds." She laughed, and gestured towards Kevin, "This is the young idiot who's caused so much trouble in your opera house."

"I know things, sonny. Soon Gwen will be able to do these sorts of things as well. It's an old power. It's also why you could tap into that omnitrix you're wearing. Family thing."

"....You set this whole thing up," Kevin said slowly.

"Now, why would you think that?" the old woman asked, her grin growing.

"Because you kept helping me," Kevin said, starting to piece everything together, "I used to ask you if you had anything to change me back to normal, and every time you told me to wait, that you didn't have it yet. Old bat...you knew this was going to happen!"

"Well, certain emotions I wasn't able to predict," she raised an eyebrow knowingly at Kevin, who suddenly refused to make eye contact, "But I did know that my grandchildren would play a major role in getting you back to normal...well, physically, anyways."

"How'd you figure all this out?" Ben asked.

"Oh, simple, dear..." Verdona said. "Magic."

"Kevin!" Gwen called after him, chasing, "Kevin, where are you going?"

Kevin stopped and turned to face her. Ben had lent him one of his shirts, but it was uncomfortably tight, and he suddenly felt ridiculous talking to Gwen while wearing it. "I have to go see my mother."

"Can I go with you?"Kevin contemplated it for a while, then shook his head.

"No. Not yet."

"Well...are you going to come back?"Kevin studied her for a moment, trying to figure out what the eagerness in her voice meant.

"I'm not sure yet. Maybe."

"Oh. All right..."

"Why? Did...did you want me to come back?"

"Well...yes," Gwen admitted. "It'll be a little weird performing without you here."

Kevin chuckled. "All right, I'll come back and watch when I can. But...this time I'm taking a seat. No more watching from underneath the stage or from the wings. Not when I look this good..."

Gwen rolled her eyes at him, and gave him a gentle shove. "Human again one day and suddenly you think you're gorgeous?"

"You tell me," He challenged.

"Go see your mom," Gwen retorted, making her way back into the opera house. Kevin nodded. "See you soon!" he called after her.

"...Mom?" Kevin was clutching the copy of Don Juan Triumphant he'd stolen when he was younger, hoping to give it as some sort of peace offering. Of course, he wasn't even sure if she still lived here, and he was starting to have doubts...

The window he'd broken out of remained in disrepair. There was a thick layer of dust on the floor and all the photographs...except , he closed the door behind him and crossed over. He knew this photograph..."That's.."

"You. As a baby..." His mother was staring at him in wonder from the door frame of the kitchen. "Kevin. You're..."

"Normal again," Kevin anticipated.

"You weren't abnormal," his mom said, shaking her head. "I just...I'm so sorry, Kevin. If I were you, I would have ran away, too. But you can't imagine how sorry I am..."

"I...I'm sorry. I took this..." He set Don Juan beside the photo.

"I know you did. I was...there that night. The night you took the girl."

"Not my proudest moment..." Kevin said, rubbing his neck. "Still not sure why I did it...I didn't hurt her, I promise. Gwen's all right. She's back at the opera house. I'm...supposed to go watch her tonight."

His mother smiled knowingly, but said nothing. She merely walked over to him and threw her arms around him. "You've no idea how much I missed you..."

"I think I do..." Kevin said softly. "Umm...would you like to go with me to the opera tonight?"

"I'd love to."

Unseen in the shadows, Verdona quietly watched her granddaughter and Kevin, smiling widely when Kevin seemed to jump when Gwen gently touched his cheek, trying to get rid of some dirt there.

"Well, young idiot, I always told you things would work out…" She directed it at Kevin, knowing he couldn't hear her. Her gaze shifted to her granddaughter. "Perhaps even better than you'd hoped…Who's there?"

Max emerged, dragging a chubby man forward with him. "Verdona, this is my friend Gaston...I was just telling him all about what happened with Gwen and Kevin," Max explained, "And why he's not allowed to take it to the newspapers."

"You will not be writing their story," Verdona said, her eyes glowing faint pink. "Or you will answer to me. All right?"

"Umm...Yes...I ...I suppose I'll find another story," Gaston agreed, tugging nervously at his collar. "I must go..." with that, the man took off running.

"How much did he know?" Verdona asked.

"He's been following everyone since the beginning."

"I see...I suppose he'll still write his story," she mused, "but at least the names and some details will change."

"But what will happen with the kids now, Verdona? Has everything settled down?"

Verdona smiled. "Of course. ...In this lifetime, anyways..."

"In this lifetime? Are you saying they'll go through the same thing again?"

"Not the same thing. But they've found each other before, and they'll find each other again, just as they did this time. That's the strange thing about love, Max," she said, wrapping her arm around his waist, "Even if you try to run from it, the two halves always find each other again to become whole."

The End

Author's Note: That is the sappiest you will get from me, at least for now. My personal prediction for Alien Force is that Gwen and Kevin won't kiss until he turns back into a monster. I think that he will change back and she will kiss him to show him she doesn't care (which would be both overly sappy and yet completely adorable. Again, this is only a prediction. I know about the same, or less, than everyone else does about Alien Force. It is coming back in September. WHOO!). Quick note: The original author of The Phantom of the Opera was a man named Gaston. so the ending was a little inside joke.

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